ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 191 



length of the river, but not in profusion, because the marketmen get 

 them. 



Formerly there was very good sport at the mouth of Banana 

 River, opposite Eau Galle. Channel Bass, Trout, Cavalle, etc.; but 

 I have not done well there the last five or six years. I hear of others 

 doing well. Banana River, so called, extends from very near Mos- 

 quito Lagoon, on the north, to its mouth opposite Eau Galle, where 

 it discharges into Indian River ; the strip of land between it and 

 Indian River being called "Merrit's Island." There is a shallow, 

 narrow creekreaching from opposite Titusville through the neck of 

 land to near the head of the river, called Banana Creek. Capt. 

 Gardner has not visited Banana River far above its mouth for several 

 years past, and I have never visited it, so we can give no opinion 

 as to the fishing except at the mouth. We do not get good reports, 

 although several years ago there were fine Channel Bass near the 

 head, and even in some parts of Banana Creek. 



To return to the Indian River : Turkey Creek, for a mile above 

 where it empties into the Indian River, was formerly a good place 

 for Sea Trout, and occasional Channel Bass ; but of late years I have 

 not done well there. Mouth of Sebastian River, or "Sebastian 

 Bay," as it is often called, was fine ground for Sea Trout, Channel 

 Bass, Sergeant-fish (snooks), Tarpon of ten to twenty-five pounds, 

 and other smaller fishes, and up the south branch for Large-mouth 

 Black Bass and Bream ; but during the past two years I have not done 

 well there. The marketmen get in their work there quite thoroughly. 

 This is one of two " Sebastian" rivers on the East Coast, the other 

 one coming into Mantanzas River at St. Augustine. 



It was at Sebastian River that I figured in my first, last and only 

 alligator story, which I will here proceed to tell. 



Some seven or eight years ago I was at the mouth of the river 

 with Capt. B. J. Pacetti on the sloop " Hillsboro " for several days. 

 One warm, nice morning we concluded to go up the south fork eight 

 or ten miles after Black Bass. We started in the rowboat and had 

 gotten to an island where the river forks, when I saw within two or 

 three hundred feet of the boat some pieces of bark (as I supposed) 

 floating on the water. I called Pacetti 's attention to them, and he 

 said, "Those are not pieces of bark, they are alligators' noses "; and 

 sure enough they were, and there were probably twenty or thirty in 

 sight. Pacetti said, "Now is your chance to kill an alligator "; I re- 



